New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning masterminded victory against the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLII. Will it happen again in Super Bowl XLVI? Photograph: Gabriel Bouys/AFP/Getty Images

The New York Giants are just under a week away from a Super Bowl XLVI grudge match with the New England Patriots, and despite the Pats having three rings in the Tom Brady era, it's the team from Boston that has the chip on their enormous square shoulders. That's because these Giants have beaten them in two out of their last three games, the most important being Super Bowl XLII, the latest being this season in week nine.

The football world is fascinated with the Giants, a team that is duplicating, their inspired run of 2007, step by step, in unfathomable fashion. These two streaks to the Super Bowl began with two vital victories, comebacks, on the road. Without them the magic that has followed the franchise would have been reduced to fruitless frustration, football seasons forgotten. Instead, today's storylines center on the supernatural, and the similarities between two New York Giants teams which are too close to ignore.

New York 38 Buffalo 21

With two games remaining in their 2007 NFL regular season, an underperforming New York Giants team were in a virtual must-win situation heading up to Buffalo. A victory against the Bills would mean a playoff berth, and perhaps most importantly, that their campaign finale against the New England Patriots would not carry post-season implications, a good thing, because the Pats were 15-0, and they wanted a perfect season, badly.

With a little over six minutes remaining in the first quarter, the Bills were up 14-0 in the snow, and Giants fans could see their season slipping away. New York would recover, mostly due to the whopping 291 rushing yards put up by Brandon Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw. The Giants blew away the Bills in the second-half, despite quarterback Eli Manning throwing two interceptions and an ugly 111 yards passing. New York were alive, clinching a spot in the playoffs, avoiding a win-and-you're-in game vs. the unbeaten Pats.

Four years later the slumping Giants, once again not living up to their talent level, were in Dallas in a similar situation, having dropped four straight games after starting their season with a 6-2 record just as the '07 team had.

Needing a win to keep them in the playoff hunt, the Cowboys went up 34-22 with 5:41 remaining in the fourth quarter, a few first downs away from just about ending New York's season. Manning passed the Giants down the field, hitting Jake Ballard for the touchdown making it a five-point game. On the ensuing drive, QB Tony Romo had Mike Austin wide-open down the sideline, but amazingly overthrew him, and instead of a game capping TD, the Cowboys had to punt. In the blink of an eye, Eli and the Giants were back in the endzone, Jacobs running it in from a yard out, and then D.J. Ware converting the two-point attempt—just like that, the Giants were up 37-34.

With just 46 seconds remaining, the Giants leaky secondary let Romo pass Dallas into field goal territory. The game looked set to head to overtime but incredibly, Jason Pierre-Paul blocked their 47-yard field goal attempt — game over. That the Giants had won was a joke, but their opportunistic QB happily walked through the window the collapsing Cowboys left open, providing new life to a season that seemed lost.

Yes, there have been bigger moments during the improbable runs to the Super Bowl by the 2007 and 2011 Giants teams, but none as important. After all, no playoffs, no Super Bowl, and the Giants almost definitely have a new head coach. Instead, we debate the similarities between two of the most storied playoff teams in NFL history. Here's a breakdown:

• Giants Head Coach Tom Coughlin went into the 2007 and 2011 seasons in trouble. He suffered a pair of first-found playoff defeats prior to '07, and after the 23-0 thrashing by Carolina in the 2005 wild-card game, Giants tight end Jeremy Shockey called out Coughlin in the press, saying he was "out coached". Four years later the Giants played some of their most pathetic football of the Coughlin era, losing to the awful Redskins twice, to the Seattle Seahawks at home, while barely scraping by the Miami Dolphins. After consecutive December collapses that left the Giants out of the previous post-seasons, Coughlin's reign was potentially coming to an end. Now he's Vince Lombardi. Funny how this football works isn't it?

• Pathetic late-season performances against the horrendous Redskins forced New York into virtual must-win situations in 2007 and 2011. After the aforementioned Dallas game this season, the Giants regressed, looking lifeless in a 23-10 loss at home against the Skins, meaning they had to win their last two games to reach the playoffs. In 2007, with New England waiting in the wings, their loss to Washington in week 15 meant they basically had to beat Buffalo to get to the post-season.

• Both Giants teams suffered late season losses to the teams with the best NFL record, and both times the way they played in the loss inspired confidence. This was famously the case in 2007—with the Patriots looking to make history by finishing 16-0, Coughlin had the Giants play all out against the Pats despite having a playoff berth wrapped up. New York's sputtering confidence took a Giant leap (rim-shot) in what was an all-out war, going to-to-toe with the best team in the league before losing 38-35. The Giants didn't lose again, beating the Pats in Super Bowl XLII, who they'll play in just under a week's time. Four years later, the Giants took on reigning champs Green Bay, who came into the game with an 11-0 record. New York stuck with the Packers most of the way, tying the game with 58 seconds left, but allowed Aaron Rodgers to get them close enough to kick a game winning field goal on the ensuing drive. While the Giants lost to the Redskins two weeks later, this game proved they could stick with the Packers, a factor which came into play during their post-season match-up.

"In 2007, the Giants started the playoffs by beating an NFC South team. Then they beat the No. 1 seed on the road. Then they beat the No. 2 seed in the conference title game when the foe turned it over in overtime and gave the Giants a short field and the Giants won on a Lawrence Tynes overtime field goal. Then they moved on to face the Patriots in the Super Bowl. In 2011, let's see ... NFC South team, No. 1 seed, No. 2 seed, overtime, turnover, Tynes, Patriots. Check."

It's uncanny to say the least, wouldn't you say? So, what now? The Giants players had been calling these playoffs their revenge tour, dispatching the Packers and the San Francisco 49ers, two teams that beat them in the regular season. Now they play a team that they actually beat this season in the Patriots, a team that hasn't lost a game in 10 tries since. As you can't seek revenge against a team you actually beat, the Giants have shifted their focus, joining us all in celebrating the bizarre duplicity of their 2007 and 2011 seasons, feeling confident they can make it two titles in four seasons.